Field of the Invention
This application is directed to methods of making molds for plastic lenses, lenses produced by such molds, and kits including such lenses and/or molds.
Description of the Related Art
Miniaturization of optical and optoelectronic devices is useful and in some cases necessary for imaging small scale objects such as biological components. In addition, there is interest to move from glass to polymer lenses. Current fabrication techniques for producing small plastic lenses use photolithography, laser ablation, or UV curable materials. Photoresist has been used to create hemispherical shaped lenses based on the photoresist's surface tension. The photoresist method is limited in geometry and requires certain thickness of photoresist, limiting the numerical aperture to >0.15.